#I say as I forcibly shove him into a blender

[teaspoonofdragons]

Sometime way back in like, July or something I think, I had a dream that I was looking for a Puyo Puyo anime on some streaming service but nothing came up when I initially looked it up but what DID come up was Guardians of the Galaxy for some reason so I let that play in the background while I kept looking and at some point Rocket turned to look at me through the screen and went “You seriously still haven’t found that thing yet? Y’know I’m willing to bet the reason we came up as a suggestion is ‘cause that Schezo guy n’ Groot both got that thing going on” to which the camera panned over to Groot who proceeded to open up. a lot of eyes. Just, everywhere, all over him. anyways I changed my mind and watched Gravity Falls the rest of the dream. I can’t get over the implication that 1. Rocket Raccoon vaguely knows Schezo (or at least knows of him) and 2. Schezo has more than one set of eyes I think of that last one especially a lot

[trianglegoddess]

Files

Bucky made Steve feral, Tony realized. The thought had come to him when he had been tweaking his glove, maybe adding some new upgrades to it, he hadn't decided. His whole suit was busted to hell because of those two geezers, and while he resented then for it, he was just to tired to actually be angry. What was Bucky's connection to Steve? Childhood friends and brothers in arms? But there's gotta be something more. Maybe Steve and Bucky were in the closet. Who knew. Tony sighed and threw his screwdriver down. He couldn't even focus on the one thing he was actually able to focus on ninety percent of the time. Bucky was a murderer, why was Steve standing up for him so fiercely? And why hadn't he told Tony any if this? Yeah, Steve said he was just protecting himself, bit that couldn't have been the only reason, right? "Friday," he said, "pull up everything SHIELD had on Bucky Barnes." It was in his face in seconds. Files upon files upon files. He sifted through them, humming some old Black Sabbath song to himself. Before the war he was an outstanding guy, loved by all the ladies. During the war, he was a part of the Howling Commandos before going MIA. That's when the name Winter Soldier popped up. Tony narrowed his eyes. Whatever happened to him, this was it. He opened it up, and the very first thing he saw was a picture of Bucky. It was an old black and white thing, and Bucky was looking pale. His eyes were squeezed shut and his hair was short, and his jaw was clenched. His left arm was missing, just above the elbow. There were gloved hands holding him down. He read. "Subject: James Barnes is to be fitted with new prosthesis arm. Will undergo experimental memory wipe." He flicked the picture over, this time finding a video. It was grainy, but it was better than nothing. It showed Barnes being strapped down in a chair. He had a new arm. It wasn't anything kike the one he had now. This one was more clunky, and had a sort of claw thing fir a hand. Barnes was looking defiant. "You can stick my brain in a blender all you want but I ain't givin’ in," Barnes spat. His jaw was right and his eyes hard, but also full of fear. This wasn't the first time they had done this to him, Tony guessed. His eyes narrowed as Barnes was forcibly restrained with the halo coming down. There was a spark of electricity and Barnes flinched. As it turned on, Tony was to distracted but the screams to tell Friday to fast forward or turn it down. Host grip on the chair was right and for a moment Tony thought Barnes was gonna break it. It didn't happen though. Instead, after a few minutes, Barnes stopped screaming and slumped back, unconscious and drooling a little bit. Tony's stomach started doing flips. The video turned black, and then restarted again, only this time is was aimed at a tired looking James Barnes who was waking up in the chair. He looked around, confused. "Where am I?" He asked. His voice sounded like metal kn a blender, and it grated in Tony's nerves. "What is your name?" Someone asked. He was a small man with a sort of accent. When he faced the camera, tony immediately recognized him as Zola, an old war criminal supposedly turned good. "It’s... Its Bucky. But..." "Vere are you from?" Zola asked, not giving Bucky the chance to continue with that thought. "I’m from... I’m..." he trailed off, looking worried as hell. Tony saw the feeling of helplessness plastered across Bucky’s face. "I don't know." He finally said. Zola hummed. "Who vas your best friend?" "Steve Rogers." The answer was almost immediate. Zola frowned and sighed. "Again," he said. Then the video went dark again. Tony skimmed ahead some. 

The next was another picture of Barnes. This time he was naked, his hair was a bit longer, and he was being hosed down by several people with large, forceful jets of water that made Tony briefly think of the sixties, during the civil rights movement. 

He flicked on, stopping at a picture of Barnes in cryo. It was hard, seeing him frozen in time like he was, in an ugly metal looking chamber with only a tiny window for him to look through. He could see metal fingertips near the corner of the window, as if he had been frozen mid-reach. 

Tony felt sick. He didn’t feel guilty for blowing the guy’s arm off, all considered, but he could understand now. Why he had done what he did. Because it was all him, but he wasn’t in control. He hasn’t been in control since before he fell in 1944. He literally had it ripped from his grasp, had it dangled in front of him. They had taunted him in so many ways. It made Tony’s heart hurt. 

The next thing was a file on the red book. The same one Zemo used at the CIA base in Berlin. 

There were the words, and why they had been chosen. Four of them were his birth year, 1917, and homecoming was him coming ‘home’ to Hydra-probably a jab at the Azzano incident. Freight car was what led him to Hydra, and so on and so forth. But there was another one in there. It wasn’t one to initiate the Winter Soldier part of Barnes. It had a different purpose, and even had a video attachment to it. 

Sputnik. 

In case of emergency, say this to the Asset. He will immediately undergo a bout of unconsciousness and provide time for recalibration if necessary. 

Tony opened up the video. 

It was Barnes, with his long hair and haunted eyes. He was walking back into some Hydra base or another with about ten handlers behind him. His hands were in large, heavy cuffs, and his rifle had been taken. He glared at the camera, and Tony saw a spark of defiance in them. 

“What happened?” Someone new said. Tony knew that voice though, had heard it somewhere, But where? 

A couple of the handlers shoved Barnes forward, at someone’s feet. The camera didn’t show his face, but Tony would recognize that gaudy suit anywhere. This must have been sort of recent, as it had a young Alexander Pierce gripping Barnes’ hair tightly, enough to make the poor guy wince. 

“Mission report,” he stated. 

Barnes stayed silent. Instead, he glared at Pierce, and Tony was sure that if looks could kill then Pierce would have been dead the second Barnes had walked into the room. 

“Mission report,” Pierce demanded. This time, though, Barnes actually reacted. He grabbed the sleeves of Pierce’s jacket and threw him to the side. Everybody was immediately on him, both scientists and handlers, all aiming guns at him. He didn't seem to mind though. No, instead he grabbed the nearest scientist, which just so happened to be the one holding the camera, and used him as a human shield as a barrage of bullets left their respective guns. 

“Hold your fire!” Pierce yelled, and then everything was quiet again. Pierce stood up, brushing off some invisible dirt as he looked at Barnes, whose metal hand was wrapped around another scientist’s throat, choking him to death. He glared at Pierce as he walked forward. 

“Who the fuck are-”

“-Sputnik,” Pierce’s voice a cold sort of calm. It sent a chill down Tony’s spine. He watched, almost like it was in slow motion, as Barnes dropped to the ground, unconscious. His grip on his prey loosened, and the scientist that was still alive crawled away, eyes full of fear. 

Pierce snapped his fingers, and four of the handlers were on top of Bucky, picking him up and carrying him to the chair before strapping him in. 

Recallibration, Tony thought bitterly. This is sick. 

He swiped to the next one, unable to watch him undergo another wiping. 

He had seen a lot of shit in these files, but the one he stumbled on now took the fucking cake. 

It was dated roughly two years back, right before the Helicarriers went down.

He was sitting on the edge of that cursed chair, shirtless and looking in pain. He was looking off into space, and Pierce was talking to him. He was much older now, and was saying something about how he needed Barnes to change the world again. But Barnes wasn’t listening. Instead, he looked Pierce in the eyes, desperate for answers. 

“But I knew him,” he whispered, voice hoarse. It was obvious who he was talking about. 

The slap that rang out stayed with Tony for long, several moments. It stayed with him when Pierce said, “Prep him.” It rang out when he saw Bucky take the mouth guard, his eyes full of defiance now. It rang out when he let himself be strapped down again, and lowered. The halo came back over his head one last time, and then the video ended. 

He sighed, scrubbing his face. He did it again, and rolled over to his desk, pulling out some blueprints. 

Yeah, he had fucked up. They all had. And yeah, Bucky had killed his parents. He would never forgive him for that. But maybe he could shift some of the blame for the people who were really responsible. 

So he started drawing. 

------------

The next time Tony saw Steve, he was rocking a beard and a dark tactical suit. He was without his shield, but on his left was Bucky, who had his hair in a sort of weird bun thing and was sporting a new, black vibranium arm he got from T’Challa, no doubt. 

He refused to look Tony in the eyes.

“Hey, Capsicle,” Tony greeted. “Robocop. How was Wakanda?” 

“Fine.” Steve was tense, obviously ready to fight if Tony decided that, but Tony didn't take it personally. When they parted ways he had done a lot of damage to both of them before Steve went feral. 

Tony stuck out his hand. A lame peace offering, he knew, but it was a start. Steve looked down at it, then back at him. Something in his eyes changed. They softened, and Tony thought he could see a twitch of his lips when Steve finally took his hand. The handshake turned into a sort of hug, because even though they screwed each other over, it was still hard having said goodbye. When they let go, he turned to Bucky.

“Hey, Barnes,” he said. Bucky looked up, meeting his eyes for a brief second. They were more clear, but still full of caution. There was something there that reminded Tony of fear, but he knew it wasn't that. There just wasn't a right word for it. “I, uh...” he started lamely. “I read about you. And I don’t forgive you for what you did to my parents, but I know it wasn’t completely your fault either. So...” he stuck out his hand to Barnes. He had wide eyes, looking Tony up and down as if trying to see if Tony was lying to him. Eventually, after a few moments, he decided that Tony bearing his heart like this was the real thing, and he gripped Tony’s hand with his flesh one. 

“Call me Bucky,” he said. Tony;s lips twitched up into a smile. It wasn’t anything big, but this...This was a start of something that could potentially be great. Like having the family back together and having new members to boot. He clapped Bucky on the shoulder and nodded, smiling at the former soldier.

“You got it, Goldilocks.”